Sling chain shackle



SLHNG (IHAHN onscreen Harry E, McCarthy and Wilhelm Prnente, York, Pa, assigners to The McKay Company, Pittsburgh, Pa a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 15, 1957, Serial No. 6%,4551

4 Claims. (Cl. fi k- 74) Our invention relates to shackles for sling chains sometimes known as bridle slings.

One object of our invention is to provide a chain sling of the character referred to wherein the chain sling is readily positionable upon a saddle that is carried by hoisting ring which in turn will be connected to lifting cables or the like, an important feature of the invention residing in the fact that the sling chain links which are of the fiat type will not accidentally become disengaged from nor slip from their seats in the saddle, and the chain can be shifted easily in directions longitudinally of the chain to make relative adjustments of the lower ends of the chain and the hooks that are usually carried thereby.

As shown in the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a chain sling structure that embodies my invention.

Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof.

Fig. 3 is view of a position of the structure of Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 is a sectional view through a position of the structure of Fig. 1.

The structure comprises a lifting link or yoke 6 that will be connected to suitable hoisting devices. The sling chain has depending portions or legs 7 and 8 and is disposed across a saddle 1h at its mid-position, the saddle being supported in the lower end of the yoke 6 by a bar 9 which is of non-circular form a similarly shaped hole in the saddle, so that the saddle is held against rotative movement in the yoke 6.

The saddle has grooves between shoulders 11 and 12 at its opposite ends. Each shoulder slopes somewhat, and the saddle also is provided with pockets 13, 14, and 15. The pocket 13 serves as a seat for an intermediate link 16 while the adjacent links 1'7 and 1% lie in the grooves between the shoulders 11-11 and 12-12, respectively. The lower and upper ends of the shoulders 12-12 have seating surfaces 12a and 12b respectively. The outermost surfaces of the shoulders are of greater length than the distance between the seating areas 12a-l2b, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4. The shoulders 11-41 are shaped the same as the shoulders 12.

While the chain can be shifted in the saddle, simply by swinging the links 19 and 28 away from their seats at the lower ends of the shoulders ill-41 and 12-42 and then raising the chain, there will be no accidental shifting or sliding of the chain on the saddle, as sometimes happens with other chain slings when a depending portion thereof swings laterally a great distance, through disengagement of its hook from a load, or otherwise.

By reason of the length of the shoulders between the seating areas 12a and 1%, even if one of the chain lengths 7 and 8 swings to an upwardly-sloping position that brings the middle link 16 to the dash line position rates Paten and extends through Patented May 20, 1958 shown in Fig. 4, the chain will not slip from the saddle until the link 26 is swung clear of the seat at 12a.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination with a sling chain whose alternate links are normally in relatively right angular planes and, the midportion of the chain being of looped form and its end portions in normally dependent relation to the loop, of a yoke of inverted U-fo-rm, a cross bar carried by the lower ends of the yoke, a saddle disposed between the legs of the yoke and supported by the bar, the saddle having a pocket in its upper surface into which a midlink or" the chain fits, flatwise, the pocket having an opening into its upper side of approximately the same width and length as the link that is contained therein, there being downwardly-sloping grooves in the ends of the saddle, each in position to receive an adjacent link edgewise, in a plane at a right angle to the plane of the middle link, 'the grooves being widened to receive the next lower .inks flatwise in planes that are in generally right-angular relation to the planes of said adjacent links, and pairs of spaced shoulders at the sides of the grooves, between the said pocket and the widened groove areas at the ends of the saddle, the shoulders of each pair being spaced apart to receive between them, a said adjacent link in an edgewise direction, the shoulders having surfaces that serve as seats for the ends of the middle link and the said next lower links, the outer surfaces of the shoulders between the seating areas at each end of the saddle being of slightly greater length than the distance between the ends of the middle link andthe said next lower link, the said surfaces that serve as seats for the ends of the middle link extending vertically to the uppermost plane of the link, and the inner longitudinal dimensions of the shoulders being of substantially shorter length than said distance.

2. A structure as recited in claim 1, wherein the cross bar is non-rotatably held in the yoke and supports the saddle non-rotatably, and is removable from the yoke and the saddle.

3. The combination with a loop-like member for connection at one end to a hoist, of a saddle seated in the lowerend of the loop, a sling chain disposed across the saddle, with its end portions normally depending I therefrom, the saddle having a central pocket that receives a middle link flatwise therein, and having a downwardly sloping groove in each end that receives the next adjacent link in edgewise position, the sides of each groove serving as shoulders which at their inner upper ends abut the middle link crosswise of its ends and at their lower outer ends abut the ends of the links next below the said adjacent links, the length of each pair of shoulders at their outer sides being slightly greater than the distance between the last-named link and the middle link, and their inner longitudinal dimensions being substantially less than said distance, the shoulders at their areas of abutment with the middle link extending vertically to the uppermost plane of the link.

4. A structure as recited in claim 3, wherein the saddle has at each end a pocket in position to receive flatwise the link next below one of said adjacent links, this pocket being wide open at its lower end and communicating at its upper end with the adjacent groove.

2,436,247 Bufllap Feb. 17, 1948 

